REVIEW article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
This article is part of the Research TopicMusic-based Interventions for Mental Health and WellbeingView all 23 articles
A Narrative Review on the Psychological Mechanisms and Efficacy of Music Interventions for Improving Symptoms of ADHD Patients
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Physics and Technology, Faculty of Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
- 2Wuhan University, Wuhan, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract: Objective: To review the research progress on the use of music intervention for improving symptoms of attention-defici/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to clarify its potential mechanisms and clinical value. Method: Using the keywords "music intervention" and "ADHD", we systematically surveyed empirical studies published in the past decade and summarized evidence from four domains: neuro-mechanisms, attention, impulse control, and emotion regulation. Results: Music intervention enhances sustained attention, reduces hyperactive and impulsive behaviors, and alleviates negative emotions such as anxiety and irritability by activating reward pathways, increasing inter-hemispheric brain synchrony, and modulating dopaminergic and noradrenergic function. Both active instrumental performance and passive music listening produce benefits, and combined use with cognitive-behavioral therapy can further improve efficacy. Conclusion: As a safe, low-side-effect, and highly acceptable non-pharmacological approach, music intervention can effectively relieve core ADHD symptoms. Future work should establish standardized and individualized protocols through large-sample randomized controlled trials to facilitate clinical translation.
Keywords: ADHD, cognitive-behavioral therapy, Music intervention, neuro-mechanism, Non-pharmacological treatment
Received: 16 Oct 2025; Accepted: 30 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Chen, Zhu and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wu Chen
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.